In the non-state commercial banks, prior to 1993, only two concessions, the CONTRIBUTORY PF SCHEME, and GRATUITY SCHEME were offered as retirement benefits. All the unions in the banking sector, including the AIRRBEA IN GRAMIN BANKS, formed a JOINT ACTION COUNCIL called for a Third Retired Benefit, a pension scheme similar to the pension paid to State Bank employees during their retirement. 

While employees were struggling to carry out the biggest protests, the martyrs of the commercial banks’ pawnbrokers suddenly abruptly agreed to accept PENSION instead of CPF SCHEME. That is, the struggle that began with the CPF SCHEME and Gratuity, which until then had been granted retirement benefits, had to be supplemented by PENSION by some unions.

At the JAC meeting held on 24.10.1993 in Hyderabad, the majority decided to adopt PENSION instead of CPF SCHEME. Subsequently, the pension scheme has been successfully implemented in the banking sector since 01.11.1993 and the pension scheme has been implemented as a second retirement benefit (SECOND RETIRAL BENEFIT) since 1995. That is, one can opt for CPF SCHEME with Graduate as a retirement benefit or a pension scheme instead of the management side PF.

But at that time almost fifty percent of commercial bank employees chose the pension fund as a SECOND RETIRAL BENEFIT. (Because the interest rate on savings in banks was up to 13%, that is, if the total money from the future deposit fund was invested in the bank during the shutdown, the interest received would be much higher than the pension paid.) They will be denied the pension until they have been denied a pension, on the one hand, the PF and on the other, the loss of a pension and the hazardous conditions of the strike have prevented the mass number of employees from selecting the pension. It was only in 1998 that this provision was removed from the pension scheme.
The bank’s interest rates plummeted to such an extent that, as a result of the new economic policies of the central rulers and the enormous economic planning. At this time there was a disparity between the amount paid as a pension and the interest and the amount of money available for the deposit. BEFI, therefore, initiated the SECOND OPTION FOR PENSION, the first of its kind to offer prospective depositors a second chance to re-elect the pension scheme. The SECOND OPTION FOR PENSION has been championed by public sector companies such as the Reserve Bank and LIC as a priority.

But the IBA refused to accept BEFI’s request. BEFI is confidently leading the debate on this demand among bank employees. As a result, the companions of the alternative societies have come to understand the need and potential for this demand. The growing support for this demand among employees at some point made the Transitional Association leaders think. Transitional union leaders were forced to respect the feelings of their employees. As a result, the UFBU 2nd OPTION FOR PENSION, which comprises five employee unions and four employee unions, began to fight as its main demand.

PENSION FOR the SECOND OPTION: 

OK! Before we look at how commercial bank employees have won the SECOND OPTION FOR PENSION, let’s see what is the essence of the SECOND OPTION FOR PENSION……

On 27.04.2010, the agreement between IBA and the commercial banking unions came into effect when the pension scheme in commercial banks came into effect. Whether they retire today or work in the bank, they can opt for a second pension scheme. 

For that… Banks will transfer the amount of money paid to the PF of the employees to the pension fund. In total, 70% of the required additional funds will be paid on behalf of the banks. 30% of the employees are contributing to the scheme. Thus the SECOND OPTION FOR PENSION was given to commercial bank employees. 

To this end, the “Zambawan” associations in Commercial Bank pledged retirement rights for future banking generations. This means that anyone who joins the bank after 01.04.2010 will get a new pension scheme. They will not be given the old pension scheme. OK! Let’s see what the new pension scheme is like …….

Everyone who joins the bank will be given a PERSONAL PENSION ACCOUNT NUMBER called PPAN. That was his permanent number until he got the job. In it, he will be given two types of accounts……

TIER 1- Competitive money cannot be refunded until sixty years of age.

TIER2- WITHDRAWAL WHEN YOU THINK IT WAS OUR SAVINGS ACCOUNT.

Accounts in TIER 1 are exempted up to a certain amount. But after 60, when it comes to making money, TAX is the favourite.

There is no talk of TAX SAVINGS in TIER2.

Money received from the employee is sown on the stock market, bull riding and bear biting depend on the rule. Under the new pension scheme, there is no GRATUITY at all.
OK! Will the money they save be paid in full during the retirement? If one
retires at age 60, he can get only 60% of his savings. The remaining 40% of the money he has to buy from the insurance company ANNUITY. The insurance company pays him a pension from such money.

This is the reason why if a person retires before the age of 60, he will receive only 20% of his savings and the remaining 80% of the insurance.

OK! He must survive until he is seventy years old if he wants the full payment. Probably so, TAX will save everything for his savings.

If you save it in TIER 1, you will contribute to the administration side. That’s 10% of the wage. Only the employee’s contribution in TIER 2 will be saved. Yet this type of savings has to be paid by someone else.

AIRRBEA’s Pension Struggle:

AIRRBEA has become an indispensable part of the lives of the village bank employees (no matter what association he belongs to). AIRRBEA’s contribution to his life of humility and justice while still mocking and parodying from the opposite direction.

AIRRBEA’s pension campaign is not a stand-alone movement. AIRRBEA’s First All India Conference held in Bhubaneswar on May 27-28, 1978 AIRRBEA was born with slogans like “Create Service Rule”.

Fierce struggles erupted from the next All India Conference held at Kannur from February 28 to March 1, 1980. It was a long journey that began on a historic “walk” in New Delhi in October 1980 with the slogan
‘Equal Pay for Equal Work’. The NIT AWARD was given to the Village Bank employees under the guidance of Justice Opul Reddy on 30.04.1990 as a result of a long struggle of the village bank employees for more than ten years under the uniform guidance of ambitious leaders like Ashish sain and Dada Dilip Kumar Mukherjee. Therefore, “pension” becomes the right of the village bank employees. 

AIRRBEA struggled with commercial bank employees when they fought for a pension. The “jambavan” associations of the commercial banks were left with a shoulder to shoulder in the fight. When the village banks were started, those who refused to accept village bank employees as bank employees did the same thing again. (This is what made AIRRBEA a demand for a special NEGOTIATING FORUM for Rural Bank employees to create a platform for JOINT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE to hold talks today.)

From this point on …… AIRRBEA began to carry out its unique motions for pension.
In 2003, AIRRBEA filed a case for pension in Karnataka High Court. As the case reached its final stage in the Karnataka High Court, NABARD filed a transfer petition and transferred the case to the Supreme Court. (Transfer Petition (civil) no (s) 211 of 2009). But the Supreme Court refused to accept it on 26.08.2010 and again moved it to the High Court. 

AIRRBEA on behalf of Comrade DK Mukherjee held a series of negotiations with the Prime Minister, the Federal Ministry of Finance and senior officials of the Central Finance Commission, while continuing the legal struggles.

On behalf of the AIRRBEA, the “Actuary” for the calculation of the financial balance of the pension was submitted to the financial statement. Moves to write letter to central finance minister on pension demands

Frequently asked questions about pension demands during Parliamentary Question Hour

In this context, the Supreme Court of Karnataka High Court on 22.03.2011 issued a historical verdict of AIRRBEA’s case for pension. The Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 mandated that the pension given to commercial bank employees on the basis of a contract entered into with the commercial bank employees on 29.10.1993, in lieu of the retirement allowance granted to the employees of the Village Bank in terms of the Employees Provident Fund Act, 1952. 

AIRRBEA had to fight back to make it acceptable to the rulers in principle, even though it was once again legally guaranteed. Once again, AIRRBEA held a series of discussions with the finance ministry officials, the finance minister and top officials of NABARD and RBI. Although they agreed to a pension for gram bank employees, they were reluctant to announce it in principle. It was during this period that the NABARD Actuary was appointed to calculate the financial burden of the pension. 

At the meeting between the Central Government and the SPONSOR Banks on 19.04.2011 it was suggested that the Central Government / SPONSOR Bank / State Government to share the debt burden on a proportionate basis of 50% / 35% / 15%. At the time of the grant of PENSION, village bank employees were asked to participate in financial equity participation, just as commercial banking employees participated in the financials. AIRRBEA vehemently denied it.

The Central Government appointed a committee headed by Mr. Umesh Kumar (JS, GOI). In July, August and September 2011, the committee, along with NABARD and SPONSOR Bank representatives, discussed the pension scheme, financial dividend and funding for the pension. It created a three-member sub-committee at its September meeting with Mr. SI. JAIN (DGM NABARD) as the nominee. At the end of 2011, the three-member committee presented a pension advisory plan on pension funds.

in it….

Of the total 82 village banks at the time, only 54 rural banks were said to be able to withstand the financial burden of pension through BENEFIT OF AMORTIZATION. The remaining 28 rural banks were also relieved of the financial burden for Their total value of ACCUMULATED LOSS.

So two ideas were proposed then…

First…Shareholders redistribute and deal with the financial shortfall.

Second…. Provision of 30% employee contribution by all village bank employees. It has been proposed that it will come up to around Rs 2098 crore so that it will be able to easily address the financial deficit.

In the meantime, AMALGAMATION WITH WEAKER RRB’s, the Federal Government came to an end. The pension scheme was far from over. 

But at this point the RRB AMENDMENT began to distract HR POLICY. We began to travel the other way.

Therefore, on 05.08.2011 and 28.02.2012, the general strikes held under the invitation of the UFBU and under the leadership of AIRRBEA, the village bank employees participated in the strikes in conjunction with their pension demands. 

On 26.04.2012, a demonstration and seminar was held on behalf of AIRRBEA in New Delhi, the capital of our nation, to demand pension. More than a thousand rural bank employees from across the country participated in the event. Eighteen MPs participated in the demonstration without a party and expressed their support for the pension. More than fifty MPs have also issued their letters of support for the pension.

On 08.06.2012 AIRRBEA launched a special one-day strike for pensioners nationwide. Pranab Mukherjee signed the Finance Ministry’s approval for the central government’s acceptance of the pension scheme for rural bank employees on 20 June 2012, before resigning from his post to contest the presidential election. 

Subsequently, the Central Government filed a Special Leave Petition which is pending till today. The pension committee has agreed to provide pension to rural banks, which is equivalent to commercial banking, but stipulates that rural banks must maintain a 9 per cent CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio). This means that rural banks cannot allocate pensions from their reserve. It is also stated that the pension scheme will be implemented from 1.4.2010.

Further, the pension committee has stated that 7560 crores is needed for granting pension to the village banks, Rs 2000 crore in the PF office and the remaining Rs 5560 crore.

 The Pension Committee has put forward some proposals to overcome this shortfall. One of these is that rural banks should be allocating 25 percent to 50 percent of their profits. On the other hand, village bank employees and officials have to accept 30% to 40% of their contribution. But whatever the method, some of the village banks can immediately implement the pension scheme. Many village banks will have to wait six years.

This has been opposed by all the unions that have participated in talks with the pension committee. Pension and PF are related to each other, as in a commercial bank, the basic salary should be 10% of the initial salary, without much restriction. If that were the case, the real deficit could be calculated. The solid conclusion of our association is that the pension scheme should be given to rural bank employees according to how they were implemented in the first place. With confidence we continue our journey of struggle. 

Guys!

If you look at the history of the village bank employees, the companions of the AIRRBEA across the country carrying the darkened destiny of life are blinking. Stand on any road in this country and meditate a little if you can …….

Yes!

The village bank employees did not fail to take to the streets of this country and fight for their rights while serving the people in the bank.